To say the that the residents of Douglas were pissed off when Andrew Fraser and feather duster Beattie took the knife to 103 years of Douglas self determination, is, well an understatement. It was a case of green shire sees red and every second man and his dog hit the streets in protest.
Under the terms of Fraser’s amalgamation rationale, Douglas had little prospect of being amalgamated, being financially strong, having just won the planning awards and with clear social, geographical and economic independence, Douglas, like Noosa never thought the Beattie government could justify an amalgamation call. Quite frankly, Douglas still does not see any justification of the forced marriage - Douglas being now but one part in 10 at the new CRC. Douglas has issues that are complex and the area of Douglas is as big as Cairns, so the previous task was 7 councillors busy running the shire. Certainly the political brawls over the Daintree and later the fighting over the tenure of the CEO, sacked after judgment by an independent body, left Douglas prone to fair criticism of its governance quality, but these brawls could not stop financial and planning excellence rolling out.
So the prospect of de-amalgamation now lies in the hands of the State opposition, whose policy allows the views of the community to take precedence over the views of a zealot minister on a career tirade. So should the State government in due course allow the will of the people to have the final say and Douglas is given the right to decide whether it remains amalgamated

with Cairns vs. reversion back to its own self determination, then I say, let the will of the people be done. If Douglas is offered a chance of returned self determination, then let the referendum have the final say. To see a video of teh Douglas, “Green Shire Sees Red” street protest, have a look at Brendan’s online video. Given the reality of the forced amalgamation, and regardless of how angered I too have been, I am not lingering in anger, I just say, OK Douglas, let’s pick ourselves up and get the best representation we can into the one seat we are allocated, help Palm Cove and Clifton Beach along the way and well, instead of despairing, I say Division 10’s rep has every possibility of lifting the debate in Cairns and whilst the Douglas Shire egg has been cracked, it may well add a lot of flavor and nutrition to the scrambled egg, that is our new CRC breakfast.

CONTACT ROD DAVIS: vote@roddavis.org

MOBILE: 0418 235561 or HOME: 0740 994434

MAIL: PO BOX 714, Port Douglas, 4877.